Louis Sansoni (c.1775 - 10 February 1831) served as the second Postmaster General of Ceylon, between 1816 and 1825. Louis Guiseppi Sansoni was born c.1775, the second son of Guiseppi (Joseph) Sansoni, the Italian commander of the trading ship ''Livorna'' (named after the Italian city of

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

). Guiseppi was employed by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

and the ship voyaged between Europe and India/Ceylon in the 1630s to 1830s. Sansoni's older brother, Joseph (1770-1800), was the garrison surgeon at Galle. Sansoni's name was often incorrectly anglicised as Lewis. Lewis Sansoni GPO Mail Advice Colombo 1820

Lewis Sansoni GPO Mail Advice Colombo 1820

He served as the Custom master in Jaffna between 1813 and 1815. He was appointed as deputy Postmaster General on 1 September 1816 and took over the role as Postmaster General on 1 October 1816, following the retirement of Egbert Bletterman. A position he remained in until 1825, when he was appointed Collector of Revenue and Customs for

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Souther ...

and Matara, a position he served as until his death in 1831. He was also the private secretary to two Pusine Justices, Sir W. Corke and H. Byrne, between 1816 and 1820. During his tenure as Postmater General he was responsible for establishing the

Kandy General Post Office The Kandy General Post Office ( si, මහනුවර ප්‍රධාන තැපැල් කාර්යාලය - ) is the main post office in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The first post office was opened in Kandy in 1820, under the direction ...

and the Galle Fort Post Office in 1820. Sansoni's first marriage is unrecorded but he had one son, Joseph, (1800-1857), who in 1824 married Maria Elisabeth Atkinson (1805-1880), the daughter of George Atkinson, the second

Surveyor General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor ge ...

, in Colombo. Joseph had a second marriage in 1832 to Sara Henrietta Staats (1814-1864). Sansoni married Lydia Twynam (1810-1892), sister of Captain Thomas Holloway Twynam (1794-1869), Master Attendant of

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

and Point-de-Galle, on 26 February 1828, at the Episcopal Church, Galle. They had no children. He died on 10 February 1831 and was buried at the Dutch Church in Galle. His wife Lydia returned to England by the ship ''Symmetry'', and in 1834 married Thomas Swindale Harvey of the firm of Hancock and Harvey, tea merchants.

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Sri Lanka Post
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sansoni, Louis 1775 births 1825 deaths Postmasters General of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan people of Italian descent People of Dutch Ceylon Dutch East India Company people

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